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Nationals Finish Road Trip with a Win in Chicago! · District Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory podcast. I'm Eric Shellhouse.
0:09
Speaker 1: Alongside me Kevin Franzen Frandy.
0:13
Speaker 2: I'm good, I'm good. Tired, but man, what a successful
0:18
Speaker 2: road trip? Right?
0:20
Speaker 1: How could we not be? I can only imagine how
0:22
Speaker 1: the players are feeling after this nine and eight in
0:25
Speaker 1: their last seventeen games. Spencer knows Baum at the Athletic today.
0:28
Speaker 1: We miss him dearly, but he'll be back on Wednesday.
0:32
Speaker 1: Start off here for those of you that are watching online,
0:34
Speaker 1: take a look at the NLS standings as of this morning,
0:38
Speaker 1: thirteen and sixteen at this point into the season. I
0:42
Speaker 1: don't know if a lot of outsiders drawn that up
0:46
Speaker 1: before the season, Franny, but I think we always do.
0:49
Speaker 1: I mean insiders too, Insiders. I mean this is really
0:54
Speaker 1: nine and eight in those last seven games, seventeen games.
0:56
Speaker 2: Excuse me?
0:58
Speaker 1: How do they pull that off? And it starts with
1:00
Speaker 1: a sweep of Milwaukee and then two two in Pittsburgh.
1:04
Speaker 1: I think just building on that momentum one and three in.
1:07
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh that was the one. Here's here's why they're utilizing
1:12
Speaker 2: the roster better than they they have in years. Guys,
1:16
Speaker 2: are you obviously have the James Woods of the World, right,
1:19
Speaker 2: the cj Abrams, and then you have a cast a
1:22
Speaker 2: crew that is it's you know, for you to have success,
1:26
Speaker 2: you have to have guys you know, uh, handle the
1:28
Speaker 2: moment throughout the season, throughout times, whether it's at Jacob Young,
1:35
Speaker 2: whether it's you know, a Brady House coming up with
1:37
Speaker 2: a big you know game, Tian Homer the other night.
1:39
Speaker 2: Like when you look at the way the roster is built,
1:42
Speaker 2: it's built for the longevy of it. As far as
1:46
Speaker 2: you know, other guys have to step up. It can't
1:48
Speaker 2: be just about James seems improving that right now? What
1:50
Speaker 2: six intentional walks already in the first uh, you know,
1:54
Speaker 2: twenty seven games or whatever it is. It's insane. So
1:58
Speaker 2: you got to you have to have a wide variet
2:00
Speaker 2: of individuals that come through, and they have and they're
2:04
Speaker 2: doing it together, and it's doing it with the entire
2:06
Speaker 2: roster at hand.
2:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we had talked about this in some of
2:10
Speaker 1: the previous episodes, but six extra inning games already on
2:14
Speaker 1: April twenty seventh, I feel like that's a little more
2:16
Speaker 1: than you're used to playing by the end of April.
2:18
Speaker 1: But they're three and three in those games, they were
2:20
Speaker 1: struggling a little bit out of the gate in those,
2:22
Speaker 1: but you know, the offense is really coming to life
2:26
Speaker 1: in extra inings. We saw that yesterday. It took ten
2:28
Speaker 1: to get it done. You know, is there a different
2:32
Speaker 1: approach that you've seen, like in the last few extra
2:34
Speaker 1: inning games that we didn't have in the first two necessarily.
2:38
Speaker 2: Just coming up with a big hit. You know, James
2:40
Speaker 2: had the big hit in Pittsburgh in the tenth inning
2:44
Speaker 2: and that was like the first extra inning hit that
2:46
Speaker 2: they had all year, right, and so it's not even
2:50
Speaker 2: about the Knox either. It's about like, you know, getting
2:52
Speaker 2: them over, get them in, finding ways to do that,
2:54
Speaker 2: and they did that yesterday. Tedda comes up with a
2:57
Speaker 2: great you know, pinch hit homer, extra eaining homer since
3:01
Speaker 2: Michael A. Taylor I believe in since twenty fifteen. Pinch
3:05
Speaker 2: hit extra y homer. Yeah, that's what it was. And
3:08
Speaker 2: shout out to Dan for reading off that. That stat
3:10
Speaker 2: was pretty cool. But you look at it and you're like, Okay,
3:15
Speaker 2: what what is it? I mean, it's a your face
3:17
Speaker 2: is so good, guys. You know when you're going on
3:19
Speaker 2: those you know, Sancy Dominez obviously with good really good stuff.
3:24
Speaker 2: Uh not the upper echelon, you know, closer, but he's
3:27
Speaker 2: a good He's a damn good reliever, damn good. So
3:31
Speaker 2: you have to execute against guys like that. Uh they did,
3:34
Speaker 2: and you know, fortunately, like for a guy like Paxston Schultz,
3:37
Speaker 2: for guys like Orlando Robalta who earlier in the year
3:39
Speaker 2: in Pittsburgh got their first career saves, and four guys
3:43
Speaker 2: to the point of using the whole roster, how do
3:45
Speaker 2: you do it? You have four different guys that have
3:48
Speaker 2: had saves and save opportunities and not like just you know,
3:53
Speaker 2: not a three any save, like put in the moment,
3:55
Speaker 2: you got to get the last three outs. So what
3:56
Speaker 2: do you got?
3:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's it's impressive. And I was listening to
4:03
Speaker 1: Natch Chap before this, and I think zuck Mark Zuckerman
4:07
Speaker 1: summed it up really well. Very few simple games, just
4:11
Speaker 1: those four words. I'm like, this far into April, they've
4:13
Speaker 1: played so many exciting and competitive games, right compared Yeah,
4:19
Speaker 1: compared to to compared to seasons past, And you mentioned
4:22
Speaker 1: like it takes different guys to step up. You take
4:25
Speaker 1: a look at yesterday's box score. For those of you
4:27
Speaker 1: watching online, there's not a whole lot of action here.
4:30
Speaker 1: And the action that we did see came in the
4:32
Speaker 1: tenth inning, the big hit obviously, but you shifted over
4:35
Speaker 1: to the pitching side of things. This really fires me up.
4:39
Speaker 1: And Foster Griffin, he is so special, right, so many
4:43
Speaker 1: different pitches that he can use in his arsenal that
4:46
Speaker 1: he's able to use in any count. He just keeps
4:50
Speaker 1: building on each performance.
4:53
Speaker 2: It's fun to watch that. But I mean, like, we've
4:54
Speaker 2: got to understand he's got seven pitches because he needs
4:56
Speaker 2: seven pitches, right, So it's not this dominant stuff. And
5:00
Speaker 2: guys you know today aren't as adept at like trying
5:05
Speaker 2: to navigate a pitcher with seven right, it's usually just
5:10
Speaker 2: high velocity, like get ready, put your foot, get your
5:13
Speaker 2: foot down and face some of the nastiest ass you've seen. Well,
5:17
Speaker 2: this is some nasty stuff, but in a different way, right,
5:21
Speaker 2: Like it's a thinkings man game on this, and I
5:24
Speaker 2: find that to be you know, it's it's refreshing. It
5:28
Speaker 2: also shows that you do have to be you pitch
5:31
Speaker 2: perfect on it, right, You can't. You can't just rely
5:34
Speaker 2: on you know, middle balls. And I thought the way
5:36
Speaker 2: that he pitched Murkami yesterday because he's had he had
5:39
Speaker 2: what I think it was four for twenty eight against
5:41
Speaker 2: Murakami or murrk Comedy was against him in Japan. But
5:47
Speaker 2: first a bat he went like where do you go, cutter, sinker,
5:51
Speaker 2: forcing her up, sweep her off the plate away for strikeout,
5:54
Speaker 2: and then he started the next at bat with an
5:57
Speaker 2: like a little short runner in just off the plate
6:01
Speaker 2: in And I feel like that pitch alone just set
6:04
Speaker 2: up disaster for Murakami the rest of the way, just
6:06
Speaker 2: because he was able to execute. It shows what happens
6:10
Speaker 2: when you can over not over execute, but when you
6:14
Speaker 2: execute your plan and you know how to react to
6:17
Speaker 2: to hitters and what they're showing you like, that's a
6:19
Speaker 2: big thing.
6:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, take one more look at Sunday's box score, and
6:24
Speaker 1: you know, gotta give her flowers to the guys down
6:26
Speaker 1: in the bullpen too. They were putting up zeros in
6:29
Speaker 1: the eighth and the ninth and then packs and slamming
6:31
Speaker 1: the door there for the save. It's you know, it's
6:35
Speaker 1: not about who or sorry, it's not about when as
6:38
Speaker 1: a matter of who is going to be stepping up
6:40
Speaker 1: with this team, and it just seems like over the
6:41
Speaker 1: last road trip. Everybody is contributing.
6:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, but that's what the way, the way
6:47
Speaker 2: the roster is built, the what's the way that Blaby
6:49
Speaker 2: Terror and Michael John's the bench coach have used this, right,
6:52
Speaker 2: Like Paul Tavoni's given him some tools, use them, use them?
6:57
Speaker 2: I mean, And again, is that how you want to
7:00
Speaker 2: go through the entire year? Uh? You know five years
7:04
Speaker 2: down the road. No, you want to have your your mainstays,
7:07
Speaker 2: you do you know, platoon advantages like they're gonna hit
7:11
Speaker 2: you know, you're you know some years some years are not.
7:15
Speaker 2: You know, you just need you need to continue to
7:17
Speaker 2: gain those those stars and uh. At the at the
7:22
Speaker 2: same time, you also need to find out who are
7:24
Speaker 2: those stars, who are those those pieces that are going
7:27
Speaker 2: to be a part of this moving forward, because there's
7:29
Speaker 2: there's guys that are are showing they're not taking this
7:31
Speaker 2: day for granted. And I think that's a big part
7:33
Speaker 2: of this. Right. Like we could sit there and you
7:36
Speaker 2: know clamor for like, well, we need more pitching, we
7:38
Speaker 2: need more of this, we need more of that. Like
7:39
Speaker 2: why why right now is not the point in time
7:42
Speaker 2: we're trying to see what we have? People think they
7:45
Speaker 2: know they don't know. We're already seeing guys in the
7:48
Speaker 2: minor leagues that you know, we're kind of pushed aside,
7:50
Speaker 2: that have taken off this year because of just new
7:54
Speaker 2: like the new staffs, the new thought processes, maybe tap
7:57
Speaker 2: it into some more of their their strengths. So we
7:59
Speaker 2: got to, you know, be patient with this and understand
8:03
Speaker 2: that right now they're in a good place.
8:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, some more stats for you. As I nerd out
8:08
Speaker 1: ten and six on the road, I think I'm not
8:11
Speaker 1: calling this that's incredible. That is incredible considering the teams
8:14
Speaker 1: they've played, opening up in Chicago, a sweep in Milwaukee, Philadelphia,
8:19
Speaker 1: I mean leaves me speechless. And for those of you listening,
8:23
Speaker 1: I'm reading from Fight Finished, the official book the Washington
8:26
Speaker 1: Nationals World Series Championship. On this page the forward from
8:30
Speaker 1: Ryan Zimmerman. I read this before and again, I'm not
8:33
Speaker 1: calling this team twenty nineteen, but in Zim's words, the
8:36
Speaker 1: cool thing about this team is it wasn't one person
8:39
Speaker 1: that got the big hit or the big out all
8:41
Speaker 1: the time. It seems like every time it happened, it
8:43
Speaker 1: was somebody different. Knowing it could be anyone at any
8:45
Speaker 1: time made us all root for each other. It was
8:48
Speaker 1: a tug of war and we were all pulling on
8:49
Speaker 1: the same side of the rope, and nobody wanted the credit.
8:52
Speaker 1: We all just wanted to win. He speaks about the
8:55
Speaker 1: character of that twenty nineteen team as well and in
8:58
Speaker 1: the forward, and I think we're seeing a lot of
9:01
Speaker 1: similar traits for the first time in many years. Is
9:05
Speaker 1: Nationals fans, Yeah, I mean there's a resilience team. Yeah,
9:11
Speaker 1: there is a resilience to this team.
9:13
Speaker 2: They're so true to that one. I would be very
9:16
Speaker 2: I would hold off on, you know, comparing them to
9:19
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen because that team was loaded with so much
9:21
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame talent. And this is not a shot
9:24
Speaker 2: on the guys. It's just like they're not the same. No,
9:28
Speaker 2: but you gotta have you got to start. That's building
9:30
Speaker 2: the culture, right, and building a sustainable culture is building that.
9:34
Speaker 1: And the striking difference to me, I don't think this
9:37
Speaker 1: is the youngest team in the league. If it's not,
9:40
Speaker 1: I know it's got one of the youngest managers. But
9:42
Speaker 1: that was the oldest team in baseball the year that
9:45
Speaker 1: the Nationals won in twenty nineteen, which I really think
9:48
Speaker 1: is a huge reason in my Zim speaks like the
9:50
Speaker 1: veterans in that clubhouse were able to remain calm even
9:54
Speaker 1: after a nineteen and thirty one star, right, And I
9:57
Speaker 1: think they're developing, you know, like to see the playing
10:00
Speaker 1: like this right now against these teams, Wow, where might
10:04
Speaker 1: they be in a few years.
10:06
Speaker 2: I think that's that's up to them, you know, Like
10:10
Speaker 2: I keep it in the perspective of the player, and
10:12
Speaker 2: and you can get ahead of yourself, you can stay
10:16
Speaker 2: in the moment. It's the more you can stay where
10:18
Speaker 2: your feet are is a special way to be, never
10:22
Speaker 2: looking ahead, rarely looking behind, learning from the past though,
10:26
Speaker 2: right Like you're not looking, but you're remembering, right Like.
10:30
Speaker 2: I think that's that there's a distinct difference in those
10:34
Speaker 2: And I think this team, what you're saying is like
10:36
Speaker 2: there's building blocks, you know that, And is it sustainable
10:41
Speaker 2: this year? Sure it is. But we're in the first
10:45
Speaker 2: month of this whole thing, and it's still a new marriage,
10:49
Speaker 2: you know between you know, Blake, peterra his staff, Al
10:53
Speaker 2: Timoni and the new guys and and all the all
10:55
Speaker 2: the players, players and staff have just hit it off.
10:59
Speaker 2: But doesn't mean it's always going to go like that.
11:02
Speaker 2: And That's why I say, but because there's always I
11:04
Speaker 2: want to see how it reacts. I have. I have
11:07
Speaker 2: a feeling I know what what Blake pe Terror is
11:09
Speaker 2: when it hits like when something, you know, a stretch
11:12
Speaker 2: of terrible play is gonna happen. Ah, He's gonna be
11:16
Speaker 2: the same. I could already. I could already sense that.
11:19
Speaker 2: I think that's a huge thing here is people give
11:23
Speaker 2: him so much. You know, most most guys don't even
11:26
Speaker 2: call him the right name. They call him Dubu Terror,
11:27
Speaker 2: and it's like it pisses me off. I M no,
11:29
Speaker 2: it's not him. Stop with that Blake pe Terra and
11:34
Speaker 2: the guys that the guy has a calmness about him
11:36
Speaker 2: that is very refreshing in the world of you know,
11:40
Speaker 2: youth and and you know, I don't want to sit
11:45
Speaker 2: there and say exaggeration, but like, the guy's energy is real,
11:49
Speaker 2: but it's also very tempered.
11:52
Speaker 1: So well, yeah, all the doubters out there, we need
11:56
Speaker 1: to put some respect on Blake Katira's name. We got
11:59
Speaker 1: a lot more to talk about too. They're just playing
12:01
Speaker 1: such exciting baseball. I'm sure I'll get a little nostalgic
12:04
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13:08
Speaker 1: And we are back, Frannie. I just realized my notes
13:12
Speaker 1: are so unorganized. I told you I was going to
13:14
Speaker 1: open with some trivia before we started the show today.
13:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, for sure, some trivia for you.
13:20
Speaker 1: Do you know how many triples you had throughout your
13:22
Speaker 1: major league career?
13:25
Speaker 2: No? Five?
13:30
Speaker 1: Five is correct, and I'm glad it's correct because I
13:33
Speaker 1: didn't have an incorrect sound effect five on the dot
13:35
Speaker 1: And as I was.
13:37
Speaker 2: Actually that, I pulled that one out.
13:39
Speaker 1: He two for two. You are two for two my
13:42
Speaker 1: friends on the season. Yeah, we were talking right before
13:47
Speaker 1: the break about this season being a season where you're
13:49
Speaker 1: looking to find out who those guys are going to be.
13:52
Speaker 1: And Jake the Snake, he was filthy on Saturday in
13:55
Speaker 1: Chicago five and two thirds innings, pitched nine strikeouts, four
13:59
Speaker 1: and one inning. Franny, you were on the.
14:00
Speaker 2: Wall three three? Wait three, he had three? Mitchell Parker
14:06
Speaker 2: had one.
14:08
Speaker 1: Sorry I didn't That headline is misleading on MLB dot com.
14:12
Speaker 2: Trying to make sure. Yeah, I know, it's the first
14:13
Speaker 2: time since it was almost exactly twenty years ago to
14:17
Speaker 2: the day, So the twenty sixth of April John Rausch
14:21
Speaker 2: did it of two thousand and six, and then April
14:25
Speaker 2: twenty fifth of twenty twenty six Jake Irb and Mitchell
14:28
Speaker 2: Parker did, No, isn't that wild? Like baseball is a
14:31
Speaker 2: weird sports are weird? Yeah, the baseball is weird, right,
14:35
Speaker 2: like the sports thing. I mean you could go with
14:37
Speaker 2: the like the hockey. Like this last year, right, the
14:40
Speaker 2: gold medal game was the same same day as you know,
14:42
Speaker 2: miracle on ice. I mean, you're gotta be kidding me,
14:44
Speaker 2: like you you can't draw that up.
14:46
Speaker 1: Ridiculous.
14:47
Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:48
Speaker 1: Anyways, getting back to Jake, I mean nine strikeouts over
14:52
Speaker 1: the course of the day. Yeah, Yeah, nine strikeouts over
14:54
Speaker 1: the course of the day and five and two thirds
14:56
Speaker 1: and the pitch count. Again, my friends come to me
14:59
Speaker 1: and they're like, I don't they let him go deeper?
15:01
Speaker 1: I wonder that myself too sometimes because Jake Man, he
15:04
Speaker 1: looked good on Saturday. I thought maybe maybe I had
15:07
Speaker 1: a little more in the tank.
15:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think we've seen it in the past,
15:10
Speaker 2: like this is like the most swinging miss that he's
15:13
Speaker 2: had since Colorado. Actually, Tenny, you go back to twenty
15:18
Speaker 2: twenty four, July four to twenty twenty four against the Mets,
15:21
Speaker 2: and he was unbelievable right on that day. So the
15:24
Speaker 2: sixteen swing and missus that he had was the most,
15:27
Speaker 2: but he went seven eight that day and it was
15:30
Speaker 2: like it was never the same afterwards, and you just
15:33
Speaker 2: never know. Like with Jake, I mean, he was really
15:37
Speaker 2: really good the other day currball. I wouldn't say it
15:41
Speaker 2: was sharp early on, so they didn't really rely on it.
15:43
Speaker 2: And then it got kept on throwing a couple here
15:45
Speaker 2: and there, and he really got a good look and
15:47
Speaker 2: feel for it and it started missing down on his zone. Now,
15:51
Speaker 2: I again, this is gonna take away from his outing,
15:54
Speaker 2: I'm sure, but that help. People are gonna take it.
15:56
Speaker 2: But like the shadows were a benefit for him, Like
15:58
Speaker 2: the shadows guys couldn't see, and it was both sides.
16:01
Speaker 2: It was at one point twenty to thirty swings on
16:06
Speaker 2: spin right, whether it was sweep or sliders, curveballs were
16:09
Speaker 2: swinging missus right. So I mean he had eleven in
16:13
Speaker 2: that timeframe and it just shows you could take advantage
16:17
Speaker 2: of the situation. So that was awesome and you got
16:18
Speaker 2: to build on That's that's the stuff for Jake is
16:21
Speaker 2: building off of those, you know one he's had two
16:24
Speaker 2: good alleys in a row where he hasn't walked the guy.
16:26
Speaker 2: It's thirteen strikeouts, no walks, yep. And for him that's
16:29
Speaker 2: a huge, huge deal because again he's still trying to
16:33
Speaker 2: stack these great days in great games and all this stuff.
16:36
Speaker 2: And sure enough, he had really quality pitch after pitch.
16:40
Speaker 2: It wasn't like he usually has an inning that kind
16:43
Speaker 2: of gets away from him. And not not on Saturday,
16:48
Speaker 2: not on he didn't even he didn't allow it to happen.
16:51
Speaker 2: It was awesome.
16:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, you just said zero walks in his last two outings,
16:54
Speaker 1: and I did make a typo on that stat line
16:57
Speaker 1: from Saturday. But the no walks, the control, I think,
17:02
Speaker 1: is what it comes down to with this pitching and
17:04
Speaker 1: limiting the big hits that the other teams might walk
17:07
Speaker 1: away with throughout the outing. You know, pull up a
17:10
Speaker 1: tweet here that I saw and read the other day
17:12
Speaker 1: at the time. This is on the twenty second recording
17:15
Speaker 1: on the twenty seventh. The Nats over the last few
17:18
Speaker 1: seasons have consistently been leading the NL and home runs allowed.
17:22
Speaker 1: How can we change that this season?
17:26
Speaker 2: Uh? Well, I think a lot of it is stuff, right,
17:30
Speaker 2: and I think it's fair. I think it's fair enough
17:34
Speaker 2: to say is that the guy's stuff is not as
17:36
Speaker 2: good as what it used to be right as far
17:38
Speaker 2: as you take a whole different world of like you
17:42
Speaker 2: go back to the nineteen team, you could say with
17:44
Speaker 2: Sures or corbyin uh with Strass, you know what I mean,
17:47
Speaker 2: Like you just anyone right and you had just tons
17:50
Speaker 2: of swing and miss. And so without the swing and miss,
17:53
Speaker 2: you know, guys are a little more comfortable in the
17:54
Speaker 2: box at times. I find it with like Zac Lytel,
17:58
Speaker 2: you know, you gave up thirty six last year, only
18:00
Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight of them were solo shots. And that's
18:02
Speaker 2: not what it is right now. He's getting crushed when
18:06
Speaker 2: he's behind the count, and so a big thing. It's
18:10
Speaker 2: like a fury eighty average when he's behind. And so
18:13
Speaker 2: that's leading to I think eight of the eleven. And
18:17
Speaker 2: that's that's a part of it, right, Like you got
18:19
Speaker 2: to find a way to get ahead in good spots,
18:21
Speaker 2: stay ahead, to be able to put the away guys,
18:23
Speaker 2: because guys get comfy in there. And it's you know,
18:27
Speaker 2: the hitters are so damn good these days too. We
18:29
Speaker 2: talk about so much of the pictures having better stuff.
18:32
Speaker 2: Well the hitters have done a hell of a job
18:35
Speaker 2: in adjusting to that better stuff. This is a g
18:37
Speaker 2: I really like appreciate where the game is. And you
18:41
Speaker 2: got to look at the home run totals and you
18:43
Speaker 2: see it and we see a lot of home runs
18:44
Speaker 2: against us, and a part of it is so damn
18:47
Speaker 2: good at bats, some damn good approaches and doing what
18:49
Speaker 2: you're supposed to do on pitches that are mistakes. That's
18:52
Speaker 2: how you get away that that you stop getting away
18:54
Speaker 2: from the middle part of the blaite mistakes, you'll you'll
18:57
Speaker 2: hit some like Miles Michaels gave up a homer to
18:59
Speaker 2: Murky on their day, what like in his mind, probably
19:03
Speaker 2: a mistake. It was a damn good pitch. It was
19:04
Speaker 2: a change of down middle part of the plate, but
19:06
Speaker 2: down and just watch someone stays through something you have
19:10
Speaker 2: tip that one. But it's not like it's one of
19:12
Speaker 2: those where he's like, ah, man, how do you do that?
19:13
Speaker 2: It's like, no, that's a hell of pitch. He just
19:16
Speaker 2: stayed on it long enough and it would just you know,
19:18
Speaker 2: the guy's a pretty damn good hitters, as he's proven.
19:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just fascinated by, Yeah, how hitters are able
19:25
Speaker 1: to hit some of these pitches out, like especially seat
19:28
Speaker 1: the pitches above his head.
19:29
Speaker 2: He yeah, I don't get it. I don't get it.
19:32
Speaker 2: Like Louis. Louis is unbelievable too, right, like where he
19:35
Speaker 2: goes out of the zone and you're going as long
19:37
Speaker 2: as you're out of the zone up it's uncanny. Teams
19:40
Speaker 2: try to go up there and you're like, what are
19:42
Speaker 2: you doing? Thank you, nice little slap head. Do the
19:45
Speaker 2: left side.
19:47
Speaker 1: It's too simple. And I don't remember exactly what the
19:49
Speaker 1: cow the quote goes in Moneyball, but they're talking about
19:52
Speaker 1: the confidence. Want you to develop confidence. That's when you
19:55
Speaker 1: got something. I think just getting ahead and counts. If
19:58
Speaker 1: guys can get to one, o, two, then that they'll
20:01
Speaker 1: see the results, right you know, yeah, you can let
20:04
Speaker 1: the hitters get instructable in the box for sure.
20:06
Speaker 2: And that's like it Like CJ's like a prime example
20:09
Speaker 2: of this, right, Like in years past, we've we've talked
20:12
Speaker 2: about this on other pods that we've had, is you know,
20:18
Speaker 2: his best months have been these months where he's chased
20:21
Speaker 2: it like this crazy rate. And then you look at
20:25
Speaker 2: some of the slumps that CJ. Abrams has gone here
20:26
Speaker 2: in the last couple of years, and it's months that
20:28
Speaker 2: you're going like elite chase level, like chase chase chase
20:33
Speaker 2: rates right like twenty percent eighteen percent, and you're going, oh,
20:37
Speaker 2: he must be crushing it. It's his worst months and
20:39
Speaker 2: it still doesn't make sense, right, But there also is
20:43
Speaker 2: that part of can you lay off enough to get
20:45
Speaker 2: into those advantageous counts to allow yourself to you know,
20:50
Speaker 2: be confident and take that confident swing. And I think
20:53
Speaker 2: that's a huge part. So, like he's going through the
20:55
Speaker 2: stretch right now where he's not really chasing a whole lot,
20:57
Speaker 2: but they're executing against them. And part of a part
21:01
Speaker 2: of everything is about, you know, great hitters, what a
21:04
Speaker 2: great hitters do? They take advantage of mistakes. Those great
21:07
Speaker 2: hitters do it like you don't go up there looking
21:09
Speaker 2: for edgshots, you know, and trying to get a hit
21:13
Speaker 2: the other way, but you're trying to drive bally trying
21:15
Speaker 2: to get a ball down the middle plate and they
21:16
Speaker 2: haven't really missed over the middle part of the plate
21:19
Speaker 2: last week and a half for him, So hopefully, hopefully
21:22
Speaker 2: the met series starts again.
21:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, the discipline and execution from an offensive perspective this
21:29
Speaker 1: season has just been off the charts one through nine,
21:32
Speaker 1: no matter who has been written in that day. It's
21:35
Speaker 1: just been outstanding. Their patients at the plate. I think
21:38
Speaker 1: really stood out in the last road trip. It was
21:40
Speaker 1: a huge part of why they were able to go
21:42
Speaker 1: nine to eight over the last seventeen.
21:44
Speaker 2: Games in.
21:46
Speaker 1: Seventeen days. Like you said, they finally get a day
21:49
Speaker 1: off today, tomorrow, it's going to be a series starts
21:52
Speaker 1: in New York. Another you know, tricky opponent, but you know,
21:56
Speaker 1: pull up those last standings for you one more time.
21:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, they got it.
22:00
Speaker 1: I will never way to keep building on where they're at.
22:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have to. They got to take advantage of
22:04
Speaker 2: these times too, right like they you know, whatever the
22:08
Speaker 2: Mets may be going through right now, they don't sit
22:11
Speaker 2: on that. They don't sleep on it. I'm sorry you
22:15
Speaker 2: you know, I'm I'm in the I feel like I'm
22:19
Speaker 2: a realist in this world when it comes to you know,
22:21
Speaker 2: it's not a negative side of it, but it's like, look,
22:24
Speaker 2: don't wake, don't wake the sleeping giant on that whole thing.
22:27
Speaker 2: You know, they're down, they're not playing great baseball, but
22:30
Speaker 2: it for teams with talent like that, it could always flip. Yeah,
22:34
Speaker 2: and so what's the biggest thing that the Nets have
22:36
Speaker 2: to do. They have to continue to play hard, play
22:40
Speaker 2: you know, mistakes free baseball, because if they play mistake
22:42
Speaker 2: free baseball, they're giving themselves a way better chance. When
22:45
Speaker 2: they play with mistakes, that's when you know they're they're
22:48
Speaker 2: climbing up hill a lot and they can't do that.
22:51
Speaker 2: And I don't care if the Mets are nine to nineteen,
22:53
Speaker 2: I don't If you make mistakes against them, they will
22:55
Speaker 2: destroy you.
22:57
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I mean that's that's a really good lineup,
23:02
Speaker 1: that's a really good pitching staff. And uh yeah, watching
23:05
Speaker 1: games over the years, it's a difficult city to go
23:08
Speaker 1: in and playing. I don't know what your experience was there,
23:10
Speaker 1: but that seems like it's a tricky ballpark to go
23:12
Speaker 1: in and playing. You know, Mets fans are passionate.
23:16
Speaker 2: Down a fantas city field was a big I love
23:19
Speaker 2: Shaye Stadium.
23:21
Speaker 1: Yeah I never made it.
23:25
Speaker 2: I came up with Bonds, So like everywhere that we
23:27
Speaker 2: went was packed, and like we got to see places
23:30
Speaker 2: that it's like you know, most hardcore, you know, when
23:34
Speaker 2: when he was there and and Shae Stadium was all
23:38
Speaker 2: like I wish, I wish I was still wrong. I
23:39
Speaker 2: know Mets fans love City Field. On my I don't
23:41
Speaker 2: get it, but whatever.
23:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just got to see City for the first
23:46
Speaker 1: time in November. I think it's pretty cool. I love
23:48
Speaker 1: that bridge out there and right center where you're just like, oh,
23:50
Speaker 1: there's the train and then boom there's the game. But
23:52
Speaker 1: uh yeah, I mean I wish I could.
23:54
Speaker 2: You're the one. You're the one, You're the one that
23:57
Speaker 2: likes this. I'm the one. I'm the one on the show.
24:01
Speaker 1: We'll get Spencer's take on another time. I'm definitely a
24:03
Speaker 1: realist in this world too, and something I'm very real
24:06
Speaker 1: and serious about. I got to see the Bruce Springsteen
24:09
Speaker 1: concert when that happens to DC a few months from now,
24:12
Speaker 1: which is why I want to get a huge shout
24:14
Speaker 1: out to today's sponsor, seat Geek. Sea Geek has over
24:18
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24:39
Speaker 1: I'm definitely going to be deferring to it when I
24:41
Speaker 1: get tickets for that Springsteen concert a few weeks from now.
24:45
Speaker 1: And yeah, I'm very grateful that I have seageek to
24:48
Speaker 1: help me out. As you see there the green bubbles
24:50
Speaker 1: on the screen. For those of you watching online, that
24:52
Speaker 1: means you're getting a good deal. And that's why I
24:54
Speaker 1: love using sea geek. And of course I have a
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25:01
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25:06
Speaker 1: and have the code automatically added to your account so
25:09
Speaker 1: you can use it later. So big old shout out
25:12
Speaker 1: to seakeek. They are definitely gonna be getting me to
25:14
Speaker 1: that Springsteen concert as we look ahead to when we
25:17
Speaker 1: start the series against the Mets tomorrow, Franny, you know,
25:20
Speaker 1: what would you say your highlighting is threats in the
25:25
Speaker 1: lineup right now? The guys we might need to pitch
25:27
Speaker 1: extra carefully.
25:29
Speaker 2: Obviously one is going to be it. I mean it's
25:31
Speaker 2: it's the guy you know, Boba shedd Ay point in
25:34
Speaker 2: time could always go it hasn't happened so far. But
25:37
Speaker 2: you know, look, you get swept in a three game
25:40
Speaker 2: series with the rock He's a doubleheader on Sunday. That's
25:44
Speaker 2: you're thinking to yourself, that's rock bottom, right. I mean
25:47
Speaker 2: as a team, the off they couldn't have come at
25:50
Speaker 2: a better time for them, and so you know, they
25:53
Speaker 2: get to stew on this for for quite some time.
25:57
Speaker 2: They got a lot, they got a lot going on,
26:00
Speaker 2: and it's can you get in and out of that
26:02
Speaker 2: place with you know, uh, one, one or two wins?
26:06
Speaker 2: I mean, that's that's gonna be the question. Uh zactly
26:09
Speaker 2: Tell's on the mound tomorrow and that's gonna be the
26:11
Speaker 2: you know, he's gonna be a tone center for the
26:12
Speaker 2: whole thing, going up against Clay Holmes. Sure you're fine,
26:16
Speaker 2: we'll see. Uh. I think Peralta and McLean I do believe,
26:20
Speaker 2: or no, let me let me get to them. I
26:24
Speaker 2: think I think it's what it was. I think that's
26:26
Speaker 2: what it was, but it could change. But I know
26:28
Speaker 2: Clay Holmes goes tomorrow not an easy one for the
26:31
Speaker 2: Nats in the past. So you always just wonder and
26:34
Speaker 2: you hold your breath that you know you get out
26:36
Speaker 2: there get ahead in early innings like they have in
26:39
Speaker 2: the past, and we'll see.
26:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, Wednesday night, we currently have Kabale listed in. Let's
26:45
Speaker 1: have TBD.
26:46
Speaker 2: Par Alta is going on the last day, Miles, Michael,
26:49
Speaker 2: listen Peralta.
26:50
Speaker 1: That'll be the final day. But we'll have a recap
26:52
Speaker 1: for you those first two game. Well, I guess a
26:54
Speaker 1: recap of Tuesday nights came for you on Wednesday morning.
26:57
Speaker 1: Anything else you want to have before we go for any.
27:00
Speaker 2: No, just enjoy the uh, you know, the off day.
27:03
Speaker 2: I think as a fan, just know that there's a
27:06
Speaker 2: lot more than just uh, you know what you're seeing
27:09
Speaker 2: out there. These guys are putting in the work. They're
27:11
Speaker 2: doing everything and that they can. This isn't about going
27:15
Speaker 2: out and getting pitching. This is not about that you
27:17
Speaker 2: get it like fans need to stop on that like
27:20
Speaker 2: they do, and it's not happening. It's it's watch what
27:26
Speaker 2: you want to watch, what's at the big league level,
27:27
Speaker 2: no matter what Nationals, dot TV, go watch it, right,
27:32
Speaker 2: but also keep an eye on what's going on in
27:34
Speaker 2: the minor leagues. Guys are killing it, yes, killing it.
27:40
Speaker 2: You're another couple of homers. Eli Willis is on a
27:43
Speaker 2: on an absolute heater right now, Steve King. I mean
27:47
Speaker 2: what they had like six of the top prospects yesterday. Homer, Yes,
27:52
Speaker 2: you know, and and and that's a huge Why I
27:55
Speaker 2: think that's big. It's not about the Homer, it's just
27:57
Speaker 2: they're continue You're seeing progression for these guys that we
27:59
Speaker 2: didn't see last year. And from Fredericksburg all the way
28:03
Speaker 2: to Rochester, they're winning games. Man, they're winning games. So
28:07
Speaker 2: I think there's there's a lot to like right now
28:11
Speaker 2: that's going on in the organization. I really truly believe that.
28:15
Speaker 2: I feel like, you know, most NATS fans already called
28:18
Speaker 2: me like a non Homer anyways, so like I know,
28:20
Speaker 2: I'm speaking the truth on that. It's fun to watch,
28:23
Speaker 2: to watch the whole, you know, you don't want to
28:27
Speaker 2: say ideas, but like the processes right like of Paul
28:31
Speaker 2: Taboni and Devin Pearson and Justin Horwitz, right with the whole,
28:35
Speaker 2: you know, from the player development side, it's fun to
28:39
Speaker 2: watch right now. It's because I feel like we've looked
28:41
Speaker 2: in the past, that's the box scores, like during our game,
28:45
Speaker 2: it almost makes it more depressing stuff was not happening
28:48
Speaker 2: down there. In the minor leagues, but you're watching games
28:50
Speaker 2: being played at such a high level right now in
28:52
Speaker 2: the big leagues, but you're also looking down in the
28:53
Speaker 2: minor leagues during the games, going like hell, yes, Like
28:57
Speaker 2: there's dudes like and there. I get it. They're further away,
28:59
Speaker 2: but guess why, it doesn't matter. There's there and they're
29:02
Speaker 2: performing mm.
29:03
Speaker 1: Hmm, and they're not going anywhere. That's fans pay attention
29:06
Speaker 1: to the transactions. Because there's been a lot of exciting promotions.
29:09
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll talk about that good bit on Wednesday
29:12
Speaker 1: and Friday once we get Spencer back. He was down
29:14
Speaker 1: there in Fredericksburg the other day. We need to give
29:16
Speaker 1: away for our incredible listeners or followers soon too. I
29:19
Speaker 1: was thinking about that. I just got an Eli Willetts
29:21
Speaker 1: autographed out of a box attar day, So maybe no promises.
29:26
Speaker 2: But I'm not gonna. I would tell you not to
29:28
Speaker 2: do it.
29:29
Speaker 1: That's that's what everyone's telling me.
29:30
Speaker 2: But just hold on to that one, hold on one one.
29:34
Speaker 1: And well and we'll figure it out. But thank you
29:36
Speaker 1: so much for listening, and we'll see in the next one.
29:38
Speaker 2: Peace